This paper explores how a young child (56 m) builds an understanding of the cardinality principle through communicative, touchscreen-based activities involving talk, gesture and body engagement working via multimodal, touchscreen interface using contemporary mobile technology. Drawing upon Nemirovsky's perceptuomotor integration theoretical lens…

This paper presents a discussion on potential conflicts originated by sensorimotor distractions when learning with mobile phones on-the-move. While research in mobile learning points to the possibility of everywhere, all the time learning; research in the area suggests that tasks performed while on-the-move predominantly require low cognitive…

Building on both cognitive semantics and enactivist approaches to cognition, we explore the concept of enactive metaphor and its implications for learning. Enactive approaches to cognition involve the idea that online sensory-motor and affective processes shape the way the perceiver-thinker experiences the world and interacts with others.…

Decades of behavioral observations have shown that invertebrate and vertebrate species have the ability to distinguish between self-generated afferent inputs versus those that are generated externally. In the present article, I describe activities focused around the discussion of a classic American Physiological Society paper by Curtis C. Bell…

An experiment with human participants established a novel procedure to assess perceptual learning with tactile stimuli. Participants received unsupervised exposure to two sandpaper surfaces differing in roughness (A and B). The ability of the participants to discriminate between the stimuli was subsequently assessed on a same/different test. It…

We identified clusters of atypical sensory functioning adults with ASC by hierarchical cluster analysis. A new scale for commonly self-reported sensory reactivity was used as a measure. In a low frequency group (n = 37), all subscale scores were relatively low, in particular atypical sensory/motor reactivity. In the intermediate group (n = 17)…

This study tested the procedural deficit hypothesis of specific language impairment (SLI) by comparing children's performance in two motor procedural learning tasks and an implicit verbal sequence learning task. Participants were 7- to 11-year-old children with SLI (n = 48), typically developing age-matched children (n = 20) and younger…

Recent literature on learning with instructional manipulatives seems to call for a moderate view on the effects of perceptual and interactive richness of instructional manipulatives on learning. This "moderate view" holds that manipulatives' perceptual and interactive richness may compromise learning in two ways: (1) by imposing a…

A longstanding debate concerns the use of concrete versus abstract instructional materials, particularly in domains such as mathematics and science. Although decades of research have focused on the advantages and disadvantages of concrete and abstract materials considered independently, we argue for an approach that moves beyond this dichotomy and…

Whereas emerging technologies, such as touchscreen tablets, are bringing sensorimotor interaction back into mathematics learning activities, existing educational theory is not geared to inform or analyze passages from action to concept. We present case studies of tutor-student behaviors in an embodied-interaction learning environment, the…

Recent research indicates that perceptual learning (PL)--experience-induced changes in the way perceivers extract information--plays a larger role in complex cognitive tasks, including abstract and symbolic domains, than has been understood in theory or implemented in instruction. Here, we describe the involvement of PL in complex cognitive tasks…

In contrast to other primates, human children's imitation performance goes from low to high fidelity soon after infancy. Are such changes associated with the development of other forms of learning? We addressed this question by testing 215 children (26-59 months) on two social conditions (imitation, emulation)--involving a demonstration--and two…

As a result of increased academic rigor and limited movement opportunities during the school day, students may have more limited focus and difficulty in maintaining attention in the classroom (McMurrer, 2007; Stark, Rentner, & Kober 2014; Common Core State Standards 2014). As students have more difficulty maintaining attention, their learning…

For children with moderate or severe cerebral palsy (CP), a foundational early goal is independent sitting. Sitting offers additional opportunities for object exploration, play and social engagement. The achievement of sitting coincides with important milestones in other developmental areas, such as social engagement with others, understanding of…

Today, early science education is a well-accepted view. Enhancing children's curiosity about the natural world and fostering positive attitudes toward science are primary goals of science education. However, questions remain regarding the appropriate ways to identify, nurture, and study these emotional states in pre-schoolers. This study examines…